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Last night I read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and loved it. It's considered a young adult novel, but my 11-year-old isn't mature enough for it yet. Alexie can break your heart while he's making you laugh.
This sounds very interesting!
I am currently reading The Book Theif. Almost done, and it is very good!
"One Second After"-About an EMP attack on the U.S and the after-effects. So far, I'm a bit disappointed; I was expecting some in-depth research on the scientific/environmental/social aspects of an EMP attack but all the story really discusses is a man and his worry over his children. It's rather hokey to me, but I'm still in the early stages of it so we'll see.
The Last Lecture, nonfiction compilition of essays by a 46 yr old man who is dying...and it is a fun read! My favorite is the chapter on being a "Recovering Jerk" (although I'm not up to it yet!).
Not a fun read is the other book I started, King Leopold's Ghost. Also nonfiction, it exposes the Belgiun King's exploitation of the Congo...it's gonna get ugly.
For anyone interested in a battle history of the 2nd Iraq war up to the capture of Baghdad, there is a troika of books by different authors from correspondents who were embedded with different prongs of the invasion.
In the Company of Soldiers by Rick Atkinson: Atkinson is a Wash Post reporter and was embedded with the 101st Airborne. In this book, Atkinson was the first to quote Petraeus asking "How does this end?"
Boots on the Ground by Karl Zinnmeister; Magazine publisher embedded with the 82nd Airborne
and
The March Up by Bing West and Ray Smith. West and Smith are both former marine Vietman vets who were embedded with the 1st Marine Div. West's son, incidentally was in he 1st MarDiv at the time.
Each book offers a unique perspective and focused on each of the three main prongs of the offensive. Atkinson was with the 101st's HQ group with General Petraeus, whereas both Zinnmeister and West/Smith were at "the tip of the spear" so to speak, in their embeds. Each book also shows how each Division operates from a uniquely different tactical perspective.
I plan to next read John Keegan's book on the Iraq War, that gives more of an overview and ties the actions of the three groups together.
We're all forgetting to mention one of the best books ever: The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger!!!!!!! Don't ask why, but I truly love this book so much I could read it over and over.
Everyone seems to laud "Catcher", but I was always much more intrigued by his stories, "Franny and Zooey", "Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenter" and the volumn of short stories.
I'm reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. It's a long read and for about the first 50 pages I found it to be "ho-hum." Then, suddenly, I turned the page and the story opened up like sun-fed flowers.
The same thing happened when I read The Poisonwood Bible.
I recommend both of them.
Glad to hear it. . . I am into "The Lacuna" and about ready to drop it at this point. . . I guess I will press on for a ways.
Is anyone reading Larsson's "The Millenium Series"? I have finished the first two, will pick up the last one tonight. . . can't wait. . .haven't read anything so engrossing for al Looooong time!
I saw THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE on a super market book shelf. I picked it up and read the flyleaf and one or two pages. I was hooked but not wanting to spend $25 I called the library and had them hold a copy for me. As luck would have it they had just had a copy returned and no holds ahead of me. I picked it up and so far I really like it. I had doubts about it when I heard it was on Oprah's list. This might be the one book on her list I love. So far I do anyway.
GL2
Wonderful book. . . it started a little slow for me, but once it gets going it's a "can't put it down" book.
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